The 5 Question Meme

Via SaysUncle, my 5 questions have been posted.

For those of you unfamiliar with this particular Meme, Xrlq asked Say Uncle 5 questions. Say Uncle in turn had to get five other bloggers to answer an additional 5 questiosn (I don't know if Xrlq asked 5 bloggers, nor if Xrlq was in fact simply one of five bloggers to be asked). Anyway, its now my turn to answer 5 questions and hence, also seek out 5 for questioning. If your interested, email me at countertop AT gmail DOT com or put something in the comments.

1 - As someone who has endorsed the Republican party, where do you see them headed? Specifically, a lot of people (ahem, me) who used to vote Republican are becoming disenchanted with them and are no longer happy with the fact that they are just not Democrats. Are the Rs going to reach out to people like me or say to Hell with us?

That is really a great question, and I am going to have to think long and hard on this one.

First, the disclaimers: While a long time libertarian - I do happen to be a member of the Virginia Republican Party and a local precinct captain. In addition, by the nature of my job, I work pretty closely with the Administration and the Republican's in Congress and have pretty damn solid Republican connections around town. I am also a fairly regular attendee at Grover Nordquist's Wednsday Morning Revival's of the Faithful.

I think that so far, especially in Iraq, things have gone perfectly acording to plan. Sure, a minor setback here and there, but what the liberal moonbats don't realize is that a good plan anticipates a few setbacks. In all though, Iraq following the fall of Sadam became a magnet for terrorists and the front line in the War on Terror. While the press complained, at least we killed those bastards there and not here.

That said, I worry about the Republican party. One of my favorite sayings is that Pigs Get Slaughtered and I am frightened that the Republican's, in all their greed, still don't understand it. There is an old timer type here in DC named Jim Tozzi. He's the guy who brought you the Data Quality Act amongst other great treasures. Liberals generally hate him, but he's a good enough guy, who has a wonderful saying - They All Go Native.

What he means is that whatever a politician's (and especially a President's) best intentions while running for office, once they arrive in DC they become inlfuenced by the massive federal presence, the quality of life stuff that goes on around here, the echo chamber of a rumour mill that this town is, and the small clicky nature of political DC (its like high school all over, just with more at stake) and not wanting to be an outcast and out of favor with the folks throwing the good parties or whatever, they quickly accept the bloated federal beurocratic monster as something that is not only acceptable but that should be allowed to continue to grown and exert its power.

The end result of course is that you have politicans who want to avoid the real issues and instead of offering legitimate solutions to pressing matters like social security (raising the retirement age), our serious energy shortage (increase access to domestic and foreign supplies of natural gas, build more natural gas pipelines, stop wasting time with liberal pipe dreams), outsourcing of jobs (shut down run away lawsuit abuse, refurbish the Clean Air Act), and the run away size of the federal government, they instead want to focus on touchy feely non issues like whether overpaid baseball players are also worthless drug addicts and cheaters and whether or not a state court has the authority after 15 years of litigating to rule on state law.

Simple answer - don't trust any politician. None have your best interest at heart and all will screw you in a second to curry favor with someone else. However, if you go into Washington with that understanding, you are much better positioned to play the game to your individual favor. And remember, at the end of the day, as bad as the Republican's are, most Democrats (and all of their Senior leadership) would sell you and the constitution and all this country stands for to a third world dictor like Castro without blinking an eye - if they thought it would result in more campaign donations from George Soros.

Does this answer your question???

2 - Why exactly do countertop’s need chronicling?

Ever see the movie Diner?? Well, I grew up in Jersey. There are lots of Diners with lots of fascinating stuff going on. Invariably, the best conversations always occur at the half dozen or so seats amongst the regular guys eating at the counter. Those conversation's need to be chronicled in much the same way that all the conversation's taking place at the barbershop need to be chronicled.

3 - You live in (or maybe near?) DC and you are a firearm enthusiast. How hard is that? And what’s in your firearm collection?

I live in the wonderful Commonwealth of Virginia which sees fit to recognize my right to carry my guns concealed (as long as I want to register my intentions) as well as recognizes my right to carry them in an open manner wherever and whenever and in whatever fashion I desire.

It makes it very easy to be a firearms enthusiast.

The only difficulties I can really think of are that its not really a good idea to carry to work and since I live in McLean right off the George Washignton Parkway and frequently travel to Alexandria on the other end, I often times have to construct interesting routes to avoid driving on/in what is technically a federal park so as to avoid a violation of federal law. Otherwise, everything is pretty cool . . . and the NRA HQ Range is only 15 minutes away.

As for my collection - lets just say I have more than I need and not as much as I want (though I still haven't gotten around to grabbing an AR-15 or a Garand yet). In all seriousness though, my collection is split up amongst a few places (including here, Jersey, and my Chattanooga (well, North Georgia) abode. It includes a number of handguns, a number of shotguns, and a number of rifles.

4 - Heard any good jokes lately?

No. I work in DC. Ever hear a politican tell a joke? Its a sad, sad, sight.

But you ask, so I will try to respond. I used to run a lawyer joke of the day email list in law school and a friend reminded me of this one (which was my favorite) the other day at lunch.

Q: What's black and tan and looks good on a lawyer?


A: A Rottweiler!

5 - IIRC, you’re some sort of lawyer. What type? I assume you have political aspirations being a lawyer in DC?

I do enironmental and energy law. And some real estate stuff.

As for political aspirations - I go back and forth on that and have been toying with the idea of becoming a Democrat in order to run for office around here. I think I could attract lots of attention as a pro gun, pro states rights, anti tax anti spending Democrat. Winning the primary though, might be a bit tough (Democrats really only want life long crazies and ridiculously (not self made) wealthy people running for office.

Really though, my biggest aspiration right now is to just get the hell out of DC and move to some small town to raise my kid safely.

UPDATE: In answering question 1, I swear that I had no idea Ryan Sager published (and the Instapundit linked to) a great essay on the connection between steroids and Schiavo and the downfall of the Republican party.